Zebra Midges

[AmishOutlaw]

Just wanted to get some thoughts on zebra midges and how you fish them. I tied a few up the other evening on a size 16 and tried them out in the morning. The stream I was fishing was stocked a few days prior and was fishable but muddy. I was pleasantly surprised to land a couple with it being so muddy. I was fishing it tandem with a glo bug about 10" down. What are your thoughts and experiences with zebra midges?

 

[jayL]

Fish them in 16-22. Use any combination of colors.

I fish them deep, trailing a nymph or other weighted fly (like you did). I also fish them as a trailer behind a dry when fish are actively feeding higher in the water column. When fish are chasing emergent midges, I fish just the midge under a small indicator. I vary the depth, but 1' or so down works best.

 

[Raven456]

Pretty much the same thing. I usually tie them as glass bead heads 18-22, black, olive, tan, brown, and always use them as the trailing fly. I have also used them as a trailer behind a dry letting the lead fly act as an indicator.

 

[dano]

Black, maroon and red Zebra with a tiny beadhead trailing 24 inches behind a pink sj worm.
The worm seems to attract the fish and also makes a nice visible underwater indicator for high sticking.
#24 in red is one of my go-to late Spring-early Summer patterns.

 

[ryguyfi]

yes 16 is quite "large" for a midge imitation. It will still catch fish as you found out, but I tie mine much smaller... probably sz 20 is my smallest. I buy small glass beads at a craft store and use those. Mine are in black, red, and brown... just thread wraps and silver or gold ribbing with the bead. I also sometimes overlap it with a 4 or 5x tippet. I've had great days with them, even caught a few smallies on them. But when the midges are on, you need to have small flies on or they'll get refused.

I may not be correct on this, but most of the midges I see hatching are on slow deep pools. So that's where I fish them. Saw a few last night, but I think they get a bit better once the weather warms up in the next few days. sz #22 griffiths gnat dry does the trick for me most days when the midges are out.

Ryan

 

[jayL]

ryguyfi wrote:
yes 16 is quite "large" for a midge imitation. It will still catch fish as you found out, but I tie mine much smaller... probably sz 20 is my smallest. I buy small glass beads at a craft store and use those. Mine are in black, red, and brown... just thread wraps and silver or gold ribbing with the bead. I also sometimes overlap it with a 4 or 5x tippet. I've had great days with them, even caught a few smallies on them. But when the midges are on, you need to have small flies on or they'll get refused.

I may not be correct on this, but most of the midges I see hatching are on slow deep pools. So that's where I fish them. Saw a few last night, but I think they get a bit better once the weather warms up in the next few days. sz #22 griffiths gnat dry does the trick for me most days when the midges are out.

Ryan

I have seen size 16 adult midges before, and have seen many size 16 larvae. They are out there.

I have found that midge dries are best in slow water, but zebra midges can be a general purpose prospecting fly. I've caught trout in the closest thing to pocket water that the tully has, and I'm sure it would work elsewhere.

 

[albatross]

Amish,

This is my first year really focusing on fishing midges. I got some pointers from JayL, and I've definitely been having some success this year. I like to fish them size 18 to 22 about 16 to 24 inches behind a dryfly on 6X tippet. I had one banner day already this spring where I caught 3 really nice browns in succession from the same hole with this technique.

 

[AmishOutlaw]

Thanks guys for all your input! I will try some of these tactics.

 

[jerseygeorge]

Charlie Meck listed the Zebra Midge as one of his top 10 flies a few years ago. I had never used one before. I tied some up, 18-24, and it is now one of my top 10 flies by far. Mostly about a 20 I would say, but sometimes I don't really know what size they are. I have them lined up in my nymph box and grab one that is not too big, not too small. I have fished them deep behind another nymph with an indicator quite successfully. I only tied up black with gold head, gold wrap. Not sure if I am missing something there.

 

[Fishidiot]

The previous posters have pretty much covered the bases and I can't really add much.

For sizes and tying, I try to keep my ZMs very slender. I think the key is a strong contrast between body color and ribbing. When I'm searching with a larger nymph, I like a larger ZM, say about #18. For technical presentations that involve sight fishing to fish clearly feeding on midges, I think it's a good time to go smaller, about #24 or so.

 

[osprey]

I love to fish midges especially dry, the whole way down to 28 but i've never heard of a zebra midge could someone give me a pattern or a pic?

 

[jayL]

osprey wrote:
I love to fish midges especially dry, the whole way down to 28 but i've never heard of a zebra midge could someone give me a pattern or a pic?

Mix and match wire, thread, and bead colors. Black/silver rib/brass bead is my favorite.

 

[osprey]

Thanks Jay nice looking fly there.

 

[flybop]

One of my most productive flies this spring has been a 20 or 22 Zebra. I have been tying them in black, red and olive. One variant that has worked real, real well is one without the bead and with a short wing of flash type material. I have been using minnow belly flash, but KF works too. These flies ave caught fish as a deep nymph and as a damp dry, and everywhere in between.